Morrison leads West Holmes' second-half rally over Orrville

By KEVIN LYNCHDaily Record Sports WriterPublished: January 18, 2013 4:00AM

MILLERSBURG -- If ever there was a case of players being too hyped up for a game, the showdown between the top two squads in the Ohio Cardinal Conference Thursday in the Dungeon at West Holmes was it.

It was a case of what West Holmes coach Lisa Patterson called, "Adrenaline out the wazoo."

The Knights managed only one field goal in the first half against the visiting Red Riders, yet still only trailed by six points at the break.

After a forgettable first half, West Holmes senior guard Rachelle Morrison hoisted her mates on her shoulders early, and then Laina Snyder picked up the slack and the Knights rallied with a big second half to grind out a 40-30 triumph over Orrville.

"I felt like at the beginning, and the whole first half, they were playing like it was an emergency, and it wasn't," Patterson said. "They just needed to settle down. We came out with too much emotion, truly, and they settled down."

A shooting clinic this wasn't, as West Holmes went 1-for-23 from the field in the first half.

But the Knights still only trailed 15-9 at intermission, as Orrville didn't do much better, making six of its 32 field goal attempts in the first half.

"If you had told me we were going to hold them to nine points, I'd think we'd be up by 15," Orrville coach Mark Alberts said. "But we only scored 15 each half. If I thought we would only give up 40, I'd give them 40 any time we play them and take my chances. We knew they're very good defensively, and they exerted their will defensively, and they got enough baskets from their offense and we didn't. It's as simple as that."

Unfazed by the horrific shooting in the opening 16 minutes, the Knights came out gunning in the third quarter.

Morrison swished a 3-pointer from corner, and after a steal, drove in for a running layup to trim the Orrville lead to 15-14.

After Orrville's Brianna Adcock split a pair of free throws and Morrison did the same, Hannah Plybon scored to give the Riders an 18-15 advantage.

Morrison scored again and teammate Emily Molnar hit a jumper to give the Knights their first lead since 3-1.

"That's a competitor for you," Patterson said of Morrison, who led the West Holmes attack with 16 points. "I'm not going to let my team down. I'm coming right back. Anybody who mopes or complains about shots not going in won't see the floor a whole lot. You have to have short-term memory loss."

A steal and a 3-pointer from Paiten Strother gave the Knights a 22-18 lead.

Snyder, who had been held scoreless to this point, scored the final six points of the period to give the Knights a 28-18 lead after three.

West Holmes had the momentum heading into the final frame and just needed to keep doing what it was doing.

"We were up six and they go boom, boom, and all of a sudden it's a one-point game," Orrville coach Mark Alberts said. "A really good team is going to respond that way. They responded in the second half.

"They're the bullies, and going into the game, we were not going to let them bully us," Alberts continued. "If they're going to push us, we were going to push them back. If they hit us, we were going to hit them harder. In the first half we did that. We boxed them out and rebounded. And we defended. We really defended.

"And they defended," he added.

West Holmes finished the game hitting 9-of-46 from the field and made 20-of-29 from the free throw line. Orrville wound up 11-of-49 from the floor. The two team combined for 4-of-28 from beyond the arc, each making two.

Maggie Davault (eight points) drilled a couple 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to trim the West Holmes lead back to five (28-23 and 31-26), but both times Morrison responded for the Knights.

Plybon, who led the Riders with 14 points, got a three-point play with 1:00 remaining to trim the West Holmes lead back to six (35-29), but the Knights made good on their final four free throw attempts to extend the lead back to 10.

"In the second half, they settled down a little bit better than we did," Alberts said. "Their good player (Snyder) stepped it up, got a few buckets and grabbed a few rebounds. Also, their ancillary players, Morrison, Molnar, they all did a good job. They're hard to guard because they can all go to the basket. And if you back off, they can shoot. You just hope that they miss. They made a couple and that kind of hurt us."

"We got it back to five, and then go to the foul line and our best player goes to the line and misses a free throw," Alberts said. "You can't miss those free throws if you're going to try and battle back against a really good team. You've got to make all your opportunities count.

"You cannot shoot 7-of-13 from the free throw line. As a team we're shooting about 70 percent from the free throw line," Alberts added. "In a game like this when you're playing the No. 1 team in the state, if you want to beat them, you've got to make them all.

"Defensively, we did as good a job as we could do," Alberts added. "They 'D'-ed us better than we 'D'-ed them. We're averaging 70-plus points per game and we get 30."

Snyder finished with 10 points on 2-of-14 shooting, but 6-of-8 from the foul line. She also yanked down 22 rebounds.

"She's our leading rebounder, and if they're not going to box her out, she's going after it," Patterson said. "The first half, though, they kept us off the boards pretty well."

The West Holmes coach was excited to escape with the win, No. 15 on the season without a loss. (10-0 in the OCC). Orrville dipped to 11-2, 7-2.

"Everybody will give us their best shot," Patterson said. "Orrville, obviously is a quality team that has won a lot of games. They know how to win games. They have two losses, to us, and that's it. They're a great team. They'll win a lot of games this year."

Kevin Lynch can be reached at 330-674-5676 or klynch@the-daily-record.com.